502 
SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
*o« 
AGRICULTURE. 
The Food of the Coiv, and its Milh .- — That all secretions bear some relation 
to the food upon which the animal from Avhich they are derived is fed is a 
physiological fact that can hardly be questioned. At the same time, w'e know 
that such relation is much less intimate than has been supposed, and refers 
merely to the constituents of the secretion in cpiestion. Thus, we cannot by 
any ordinary process of feeding develop in any special secretion a salt or 
organic principle which it does not usually contain. At the same time, if the 
food does not contain the materials from which the components of the secre- 
tion are formed, the latter will not be properly or normally produced. The 
feeding of cattle in large towns is a subject Avhich is well worthy of scientific 
investigations, and we are glad to find that it has already been taken up by a 
writer in the Veterinarian. Although the author of the j)aper to which we 
refer (a lady well known in social-science circles) has not given as much care- 
ful study to the subject as we should desire, still her remarks are at least 
suggestive. She thinks that both the milk and butter which we Avho reside 
in the metropolis are supplied with might be much imi)roved by a proper 
system of feeding cattle. In cows’ milk, she observes, the sugar is deficient, 
thus accounting for its inferiority to human milk as a producer of heat. The 
water is also less than in human milk ; the butter and casein are more, and 
the salts are also in excess. Cows’ milk is not unfrequently acid (!), especially 
when the animal has been stall-fed, while human milk is decidedly alkaline. 
“ Bearing all these differences in mind, it ajjpears to me that every condition 
indicated might be fulfilled, and that we should obtain a very good balance 
in the relative proportion of these essential elements in the milk, if we sup- 
plied the cow with the kind of food containing the sugar, the alkali, and the 
carbon.” There are two matters to which we wish to call the writer’s 
attention : Firstly. She has omitted to mention that human milk contains 
much more potass than that of the cow, and that, consequently, the latter, 
be it ever so rich, cannot be substituted advantageously for the former. 
Secondly. It is quite impossible that cows’ milk can be acid when drawn 
from the animal. The development of acid is due to fermentation of the 
sugar, which becomes converted into lactic acid, and if this was present in 
any notable proportion, it would inevitably precipitate the casein. 
